


Second Chances

by Ace of Jokers (AceOfJokers)



Category: Kamen Rider Kabuto
Genre: (does this include unmentioned Riders? sure maybe live your dreams), (except for actual villains lol), Alternate Ending, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-06-24 03:47:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19715602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceOfJokers/pseuds/Ace%20of%20Jokers
Summary: “What now, then?” One of the Tendous echoed back at him, and he felt fairly certain this time that it was the other one. He was starting to pick up on a slight difference in tone, a slight childishness; he dreaded the thought of having to make these subtle distinctions all the time, but…“My Tendou – er – the Tendou I know is right,” Kagami said, taking a deep breath and just knowing that the impossibly smug man was going to tease him about every part of that sentence later, “I mean, I understand it’s unfair of me to try and decide things for you, but… He’s right. People can help each other be better. You deserve a second chance.”[Alternate ending for Kabuto, in which only a terribly small change is made, because really, that's all it takes to make the world a little softer. And weirder. But mostly softer.]





	1. Action

The Native Worm leader shifted, clearly about to launch into combat again.

Kabuto and Gatack paused, though their bodies automatically settled into fighting stances, staring at their next foe with a tiredness that surpassed any surprise. To have to deal with this, so shortly after everything else, was just…

And then a black figure tore itself out of the burning wreckage behind them, flinging itself at the foe before they could blink.

They barely had time, either, to register the figure as Dark Kabuto before he wrapped his arms around the struggling Negishi – spoke a soft “This world, take care of it” – turned, with an obvious intent to plunge right back into that roaring inferno –

Kabuto and Gatack glanced at each other, the barest of split seconds. It had been a long day, full of missteps and misunderstandings and yelling and fighting but, at last, they were on the same page. Unspoken, they agreed.

Gatack clocked up, rushed forward, and grabbed onto the unprepared Dark Kabuto – the guy _his_ Kabuto had nearly stayed in a burning building for – and pulled him back, with nearly the last of his strength. Kabuto, for his part, immediately clocked up as well, initiated what had to be the world’s laziest _1-2-3 Rider Kick_ yet – even by Tendou standards, though admittedly an unmolted Worm required little else – and –

And, seemingly interminable seconds later, they all fell; out of clock-up, out of armor, onto the solid concrete roof on which little remained of the Native Worm.

Successful, if only barely.

Kagami had been forced to drag Dark Kabuto away from the explosion, which the Worm had made no effort to avoid himself. He could tell that neither Tendou nor his Worm-clone were particularly happy about that, but what else could he have done?

Now, sprawled out across the roof, watching their Zecters fly off, they paused for a while just to catch their breath. Dark Kabuto, when Kagami glanced over at him again, was just staring blankly at the sky. There wasn’t anything in those eyes now. It was honestly a little scary; it reminded Kagami of the night Hiyori had disappeared, when he’d found Tendou huddled alone in the cafe. That hadn’t been a good night. … Well, not all of it, anyway.

“What now?” He breathed, almost to himself.

“Let me die,” Dark Kabuto replied immediately. Kagami was about to protest in horror, but –

“Grandmother said this…”

Oh no. He wasn’t. Not _now,_ of all times.

“… ‘Even the poorest of dishes is improved by sharing it’,” Tendou finished, levering up onto one arm and staring down at his copy superciliously.

Of course he was doing this. And he seemed to think that quotation was a complete contribution to the conversation, as usual. Of course. Tendou was always going to be Tendou, after all.

Dark Kabuto, however, only repeated himself: “Just let me _die.”_

“No!” Kagami finally got in his protest, but before he could argue any further, once again, he was cut off –

This time, at least, it was the _other_ one talking over him. “Of course you both won’t let me. Well, I’ll –”

“Oh, no. _I’d_ let you, actually,” Tendou stopped his copy self there, stacking the interruptions.

“Tendou!”

“But, as you see, Kagami won’t,” Tendou continued smoothly; then, in the face of the spark of hatred shining in his copy’s eyes, he added: “And if you’re thinking of doing something to force him to kill you… _Don’t.”_

That last word hung crystalline in the air somehow, freezing the moment in tense dread…

… Until Kagami couldn’t take it anymore, and broke the silence. He didn’t know what Tendou had meant by that threat, and he was pretty sure he never wanted to find out.

“Hey, look, uh…” he began, awkwardly pausing around his lack of any name to call the other Tendou by, “I can’t pretend to know what you’re going through, but -”

“They kidnapped me,” Dark Kabuto said, dully, back to staring at the empty sky. “They kidnapped me, and made me a Worm.”

Oh. So he was technically Native, then. The first of their human-to-Native experiments, Kagami guessed? He wasn’t sure he wanted to think about that, but… “They… Wait, what? Who were you before, then?”

“I don’t remember,” he laughed, without any kind of humor, and Kagami shivered. “I only know because they told me, when they didn’t need me anymore, except to run that machine. My first memory – that’s really _mine_ – is opening my eyes and seeing myself, unconscious.” He glanced sharply at Tendou, before continuing in the same monotone. “I was young, both of me. And then they dragged me, the me that’s _me,_ away. Locked me in a cell. Tested Rider gear. Made Hyper Beetle. That’s my existence. Everything I’ve known. Four walls and chains and scientists.”

Kagami managed somehow to sit up, because lying down had suddenly become intolerable. Some instinct wanted to run away, to not have to hear Tendou’s deadened voice summing up such a life; since he couldn’t do that, at least the small motion helped somewhat. He’d been right, he definitely didn’t want to think about this.

“What’s wrong, Kagami?”

He wasn’t entirely sure, without looking, which one had asked, and he realized abruptly that his hands had curled into shaking fists.

“I kind of wish that damn Worm was back, so I could punch him again,” he laughed, forcing himself to relax slightly. Forcing himself to take the thought of a _child_ being tortured, a child who was _Tendou,_ and putting that away for later nightmares.

“What now, then?” One of the Tendous echoed back at him, and he felt fairly certain this time that it was the other one. He was starting to pick up on a slight difference in tone, a slight childishness; he dreaded the thought of having to make these subtle distinctions all the time, but…

“My Tendou – er – _the Tendou I know_ is right,” Kagami said, taking a deep breath and just knowing that the impossibly smug man was going to tease him about every part of that sentence later, “I mean, I understand it’s unfair of me to try and decide things for you, but… He’s right. People can help each other be better. You deserve a second chance.”

… He really, really hoped that was what that grandmother-quotation had meant earlier, anyway. Regardless, he looked over his shoulder as silence greeted his words, and was startled by two identical expressions of mild bemusement staring back at him.

“What’s _your_ plan then, Kagami?” his Tendou asked, expression shifting to amusement.

“I think people might notice that I didn’t even exist before,” the other one added, quietly.

“That – I – we’ll work that out,” Kagami sputtered, glaring at his Tendou for putting him on the spot. “We’ll… say you’re a twin that got separated during the Shibuya incident. It’s happened before. My dad definitely owes me one – we’ll forge some papers, call in a few other favors.”

His Tendou only looked all the more amused, like a cat casually watching a baby bird trying to fly. “You think he'll do all that?”

Kagami scoffed, folding his arms. “He’d _better._ Anyway, for now, that’s not important. We should go back – we need a few _days'_ worth of rest. Or at least I do. And… Hiyori wants to see you, anyway.”

He’d said it without really thinking, but honestly… He knew Hiyori pretty well, or at least he thought so, and he couldn’t imagine her not wanting to see her brother - both of him. She’d probably be pretty mad at them, and glare and huff, but… Yeah, she’d want to see them.

The other Tendou’s face lit up at that, to his not-quite-surprise, and after a couple attempts he managed to join Kagami in sitting up. “You… really think so?” Then his face darkened momentarily, as he drew his knees up under his chin, looking more childlike than ever. “She abandoned me though. Her and _him_ both did.”

Kagami glared at his Tendou, not out of any understanding but more on general principle. The infuriating man just sighed, somehow managing to look casual and lazy even as he sat upright himself.

“I think,” he began slowly, “she thought I was going to go back for you. My bike’s not really big enough for three.”

“Yes it was!”

Tendou just rolled his eyes. “Anyway, she wouldn’t tell me who did it when you hit her – so I guess she might not be opposed to seeing you.”

Kagami blinked. “Wait, he _what?!”_

The other Tendou huddled up still more, hugging his arms around his knees tightly. “I’m… not very good at… dealing with people.”

That didn’t really explain – Kagami sighed, took a deep breath, and decided he didn’t really have the energy to deal with this right now. He shot his Tendou a glare promising that there would be _discussions_ later, though. (Tendou pointedly ignored him, of course. Fine. Hiyori was the one he really needed to check with anyway.) “That’s okay. Tendou’s no good at it, either.”

 _That_ got him a glare back, but whatever, it was worth it. Especially when, to his amazement, the other Tendou genuinely laughed – no, almost _giggled_. … Life was going to get weird for him, wasn’t it.

“… Is it really okay?”

To be honest, Kagami had no clue. But when faced with such an open, trusting version of Tendou’s face – not to mention proper Tendou back there, pretending to be absolutely self-assured while clearly wanting reassurance himself – well…

“Yeah,” he said, with all the confidence he didn’t feel, even going so far as to reach out and ruffle the other Tendou’s hair. (His Tendou’s glare promised discussions about _that_ later, too, and it was his turn to ignore it.) “It’ll be alright. We’ll make it work.”

And, to his genuine surprise, the other Tendou smiled – brightly, and honestly, in exactly the way Tendou himself never would. “Okay,” he said, and huddled back up again, still smiling.

Kagami just sat there stunned for a moment, glancing over at his Tendou for help and only receiving a slight shrug.

“Guys!”

He looked up in surprise at the sudden shout, spotting their friends finally getting up onto the roof, running towards them – and looking very surprised to see two Tendous. He couldn’t blame them, but he sighed a little at the thought of all the upcoming explaining to be done, nevertheless.

Life was going to get very weird indeed.

But not, perhaps, in a bad way.


	2. Reaction

Renge was the least shocked to see the second Tendou, but probably reacted the worst. It didn’t surprise Kagami, since she had been involved in Tendou’s previous plans concerning his Native Worm duplicate, but it certainly didn’t help the confusion to have her pulling out combat wire and striking a threatening pose.

It took a while to talk her down from that, even though the other Tendou’s only reaction to being threatened was to stare blankly. Trying to convince someone that the person they’d last seen trying to murder their teacher was worth giving a second chance was no easy task.

Still, eventually she was convinced to drop the wire and calm down a bit. (The other Tendou, for his part, continued nonreacting towards her obvious distrust. Kagami worried about that. They’d have to work on his apparent lack of self-preservation, clearly.) She didn’t begin to relax, however, until she actually risked talking with him a while later; upon realizing that this Tendou had no cooking skills but was hesitantly eager to learn, even from her, she brightened up almost immediately.

It would be a long time before any of them trusted him, but that was a good start, for her.

* * *

Misaki seemed completely neutral towards the new other-Tendou, if a little exasperated at the idea of having _two_ of them. (Kagami, secretly, quite agreed.)

Then the new Tendou stood up a little too suddenly; she flinched, and kicked his legs out from under him. The situation, barely past Renge’s open distrust, devolved into chaos again. It turned out, understandably, that Misaki still had issues trusting Worms. Especially ones taking the form of people she knew.

She was better at hiding it than Renge, though, when she wasn’t startled; good enough that Kagami would never be quite sure whether she ever _really_ warmed up to Tendou’s copy. Regardless, she’d immediately apologized and helped Tadokoro in getting the other Tendou back to his feet. He’d been apparently content to just lie on the ground after getting knocked down, though he glared as they helped him up, but he didn’t make any moves of retribution.

Then, to absolutely everyone’s surprise, he turned to Misaki and told her that she could kill him if she’d like – just not until after he’d seen Hiyori.

She burst out laughing at that, declaring that maybe she preferred this Tendou after all. It wasn’t much, but it helped; it was impossible to maintain any sort of tension when Misaki, of all people, was laughing so wholeheartedly.

* * *

Tadokoro had been, without question, the most welcoming towards the new Tendou, which was unsurprising.

What _was_ surprising was the new Tendou’s reaction to him. He shied away, outright ignored the other Native Worm, and shot glares of hatred towards him when he thought no-one was looking.

Later, he’d explain to Kagami that he’d seen Tadokoro once, standing outside the cell. The man had looked horrified, but hadn’t done anything to help; in his mind, therefore, the man got thrown in with every other Worm who tormented him.

Possibly the only thing that had kept him from attacking Tadokoro outright at the start was his own worn-out state, plus the fact that the man had helped him up when Misaki knocked him down. Regardless, it was clear he didn’t trust Tadokoro, and didn’t entirely care whether the man knew it.

It took Tadokoro a little while to catch on, but when he did, his reaction was quiet. An offered hand, a quiet apology; apologizing for not being able to help, for being weak; promising to do everything he could in the future. The other Tendou didn’t accept it, not immediately – but he softened slightly towards him anyway. The glaring stopped, and he began to at least respond to direct questions, if only in monosyllables.

Kagami encouraged them as best he could, though he was never quite sure whether he was helping or not. Tadokoro had made for an excellent surrogate father to him, in retrospect; he hoped the same might be true for the lost other Tendou. Only time would tell, of course. But he hoped, nevertheless.

* * *

Hiyori was one of the last of their main group to react to the new Tendou, though of course she already knew him more than anybody else, and her reaction was the one Kagami had been most nervous for.

She’d watched in silence as they all filed awkwardly into the bistro, her only initial response to the second Tendou being a slight raising of eyebrows. They’d waited for her to say something, the two Tendous pushed to the front of their small crowd, as she walked out of the kitchen and stood before them. She glared from one to the other, still silent…

Then she’d rolled her eyes, and told them to sit down before they fell over, and that they were late but she’d try to get them something to eat anyway.

And that was that. Kagami would still have to talk to her later, of course, to check she was really okay; and there was still a lot of other conversations to be had, awkward and complicated ones, but… For now, there was rest, and hidden smiles, and food. And that was enough.

* * *

… Juuka’s reaction was unexpected, the young girl being half-forgotten by everyone, except possibly the proper Tendou. She bounded into the bistro as they were in the middle of eating, and accused her brother of forgetting about lunch. Which he had – though, to be fair, a near-apocalypse and nearly dying _and_ being a wanted criminal excused a guy of forgetting many things, in Kagami’s opinion. (Though not, perhaps, in Tendou’s.)

Then she finally noticed the second ‘brother’ in the room, as everyone sat absolutely still, uncertain of what to do. (Kagami would realize later, looking back on it, that his Tendou had been most tense of all, almost giving off a murderous aura towards his double; it was a miracle nothing had snapped.) She paused uncertainly herself, head tilted to one side in confusion…

And she smiled, and asked him what his name was, and whether he could cook pancakes, because those were her favorites? At which point, the tension immediately diffused. Because what else could one do against such rapid-fire non-sequiturs, really? Juuka had definitely learned a thing or two from her brother, even if she approached things more… kindly.

* * *

Later, after a meal that had of course been delicious, Kagami stood outside on the roof, watching the last rays of sunset. It had been an insane day, and watching an ordinary world seemingly go on with hardly a pause made it seem all the more unreal. A second chance for everyone in it, and who knew how many people would hardly even realize it. Or at least, the full extent of it. (He was dead certain they wouldn't get any _credit_ , for sure. No victory parades for them. Probably, an awful lot of people were going to be wanting to pretend nothing happened, instead. Easier to do that, to take your second chance and run, than admit what you did with your _first_ chance. Oh, well... He could dream.)

He heard the door behind him open, and turned to see his Tendou walking out to join him. Well, he could assume it was his, unless they’d decided to switch outfits. He groaned under his breath at the idea, turning back towards the railing in unfair annoyance at a trick that (probably) hadn’t even happened. He could see them doing it, though, that was the thing… They were going to need to develop some kind of _system_ or something now, ugh...

“Thanks.”

Kagami blinked in surprise at the sudden gratitude. From _Tendou_. He still didn’t look at him, keeping his gaze focused on the city skyline. “For what?”

“Not letting the me that wasn’t _‘yours’_ die.”

“Oh, jeez,” Kagami groaned, resting his head in his hands. He knew it. This was going to be A Thing for _weeks_. “… Well, you’re welcome.”

There was a pause, as they both returned to staring at the city.

“Kagami?”

“Yeah?”

“There was something I meant to say earlier. About paths…”

Kagami actually turned to look at Tendou, at that, frowning in confusion. Really? Now? After all they’d been through, was he really…

Tendou cleared his throat, an almost uncharacteristically awkward gesture for him. “Those walking along the same path don’t merely pass as comrades…”

… He was launching into a speech. Because of course, _of course_ he was. Oh, jeez. Kagami bit back a laugh, listening as Tendou tried to get around to saying, in his own way, that they were friends. By which logic, Kagami supposed, they would be outright married somehow before he ever admitted to anything more.

Oh, well. Looking out at the regular world of twilight and glimmering city lights, listening to a ridiculous quote that was definitely all Tendou’s for once (though he’d still ask to be sure), Kagami felt – for the first time in a while – that, somehow… everything really would be okay.


End file.
